Police Encounters

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On Wednesday night at about 8:30pm a police officer from my town was pounding on my door. I answered the door and he asked me to step outside. I did not have any shoes on. My driveway is made of rocks so I asked him if I could get my shoes and he said no. He proceeded to tell me that a crisis line I called the night before had asked him to do a wellness check on me. The previous year I had gone to the hospital a few times in a mobile crisis unit because I was freaking out due to my anxiety. He then told me that they did not want anymore trouble out of me and he began to question my conversation with the crisis line. I gave him my therapist phone number so he could talk to her. I told him my feet were hurting and he told me just stand right there and I will be back. In about five minutes he came back and told me to go into my house. After this event I had a panic attack that lasted several hours. My feet were hurting so bad. The heel pads of my feet were bruised. I'm very sensitive to most everything on my feet. Is it wrong for me to think that I was treated like a criminal?

You're not a criminal. The officer was domineering, and overstepping his boundries. There is nothing you can do about that now. Next time, never open the door for anyone. Tell him that he needs to have the police department call you, in order to prove that he is in fact a police officer. That way the department will know he is there in case he shouldn't be, or in case he does anything stupid. Don't trust people at your door no matter who they say they are. Talk through the door. If and when the department calls, you will have plenty of time to put your shoes on or whatever. If he is not supposed to be there, he will most likely make up a story, leave, and hopefully not come back. It is always fun to greet a police officer with a .45 in your hand. If you are an american of course. Make sure he can see it. Just stick it in your pants, and hold on to the handle. He will be soo nice. Like all buddy buddy and stuff.

That must have been very distressing. Yeah, it sounds as if he regarded you more as a criminal/trouble maker than someone who needed help. The officer seems to have totally misunderstood the situation. Maybe the person on the crisis line said wrong things to the officer. That kind of treatment is the last thing you need when you are already having difficulty in life. Can you lodge a complaint about that although that in itself is a pretty stressful thing to do? I'm sorry you had to go through that.

It was very stressful. I have sent a complaint to the head of the police department. My therapist is also going to send them a letter to explain my autism. I have also been told to make an Emergency Info card that identifies me as a person with Asperger's and gives some more information about the way I may be acting in a police encounter. ( No eye contact/Anxiety and so fourth, )

I'd file complaints with the PD and whomever is in charge of that "wellness line" you called.

Ultimately, they inflicted harm on you...they didn't help.

It sounds to me that he was concerned about your safety and just doing his job. He couldn't let you go back in the building because that would mean you could come back with a weapon. That is part of police training. I don't think he was aware of how people with autism react to certain situations. A card explaining that you are autistic and have difficulty with communicating and anxiety and sensory problems would be a good idea. I would recommend opening the door to police officers as they are just making sure you are safe. I wouldn't worry about the incident though if you can help it.

I personally think he was being an ***hole (sorry for the faul language). I have had instances where I was in the same situation and they were always very nice to me. I don't give a damn if they don't want me to go inside or not. If my feet hurt, I will get myself some shoes, police officer or not. I deserve to not have my feet hurt and you do as well. He treated you like a criminal and that is just unacceptable. How simple would it be to just let you put shoes on. He let you stand for 5 minutes in rocks, that's just totally wrong.

Police can be very dominant. Just don't let them get to you. They can't force you to do anything if you did not do something wrong and even if you did, it's already too late so...

I was always told that no one person in this world is better then me. I have respect for everyone but if they don't treat me with respect then why should I even listen to them?

Ah, the cops. Gotta love their complete disregard for human safety and comfort.

Luckily I've never really had to deal with the police; I definitely think I'd freak out and not be able to talk and get haulled into the station for being suspicious and then they'd shoot me or something.

I don't think we know what the officer was thinking. It sounds to me like there was some miscommunication. If that had happened to a NT person, the whole thing wouldn't have been near as big a deal. For a nt person standing on gravel for a five minutes isn't very comfortable, but it isn't a huge deal. I don't know if the officer was aware that she had autism. Probably if the police officer had known she was autistic (and what that meant) he would have been willing to be more flexible. I would recommend putting on shoes next time and not worry about the incident. The police have to follow certain protocols, and I think one of those is not to let people back in to the building under that type of situation. This is for her safety as well as the officers.

burglars, and other very bad people actually perform forced entries by doing just that. They pound on your door, say they are someone they are not in order to get you to open the door. That is why you call the police. Or get them to do it for you. just till them to wait a minute, tell him that you are calling the police, and call 911. He will most certainly be on his best behavior after that. These people are trained to control. That is why he did that. He definately controlled that situation. You could have turned that around on him with a simple phone call, and making him wait. I personally like to have a pistol in my pants. I'm sure most would disagree. He probably wouldn't even ask you to step outside if you did. There was really no reason for it. These new age officers love to play cowboy, unless you level the playing field.

Most countries don't allow guns. If they see a gun where I live you have a problem. You can go 3 years to prison for owning a gun.

I wouldn't call that crises hotline anymore.

the police were ignorant and unaware of the disability but not doing anything illegal.
they can be a PITA but they arent always that way.
have had a long history with police due to being labeled extremely vulnerable and running away alot whenever feeling unsafe.
last year had been showing extreme challenging behavior;smashing up the whole ground floor of a residential centre and multiple vans of police were called,was spoken to with respect but handcuffed and fully leg cuffed for own safety,wrapped in padding on the floor they put the helmet of mine on self and was pinned down for several hours until an ambulance was able to arrive and take self to hospital with seven of them on top of self and the others following in their vans.
was restrained for twenty hours with no sedation and had done permenent damage to the nerves in the lumbar part of the spine which was then worsened by four months of daily rough restraining in a intelectual disability hospital.

the worst experience have had from the police was when had run away once and was speed rocking and head banging a concrete block on the ground without the helmet, even though am very obviously autistic to other people,the police didnt have a clue and shouted if its charlie or speed this time- meaning they were asking which drug it was had taken.
they only realised was severely disabled when they had tried getting close,had kicked them in their faces out of fight or flight and whilst was restrained and they were looking for identification they noticed was wearing a nappy.
its not good because the last residential centre of mine actualy regulary trains greater manchester police on autism, makaton and intelectual disability yet they were largely ignorant and none of them were able to communicate with self in makaton.


as for the hotline,woud suggest looking for a hotline with a confidentiality policy in the future ,because have shown the original post to a support staff of mine who also volunteers for the UK samaritans and she says under her organisation anyway they CANNOT phone the emergency services on any callers under any situation apart from terrorism threats because of their confidentiality rules,she says they get a lot of american emailers because of this.
these hotlines dont realise theyre putting a load of people off contacting them by their stupid grass em up policy.

What an a**hole, how is calling a crisis line when you are freaking out due to a panic attack 'causing trouble'? I think if possible you should report him for harassment though kind of hard to fight cops on things like that and legal/court stuff can be stressful adding to anxiety.

Also though if a cop knocks on your door again you don't have to let them in if they don't have a warrant, and pretty sure its illegal for them to remain on your property till they go get one, though not entirely sure with wellness checks or whatever, though I'd assume they could only come in without permission if there is good reason to believe the person is harming themselves or others. But perhaps it would be best to look up laws in your state and what not about that.